5 Months

I LOVE the age Caleb is at right now. I think each "stage" gets progressively more fun so far. Hopefully that will stay true. Caleb is so curious right now. He gets so excited with each new object I give him for him to explore i.e. put in his mouth. He can play more independently now too. Yeah!!! I have to admit that I was really struggling during the day with activities to do with him while he was awake. It seemed that he had to have my full undivided attention, and that was getting really hard. How many different things can you do with a baby all day long? I was running out of ideas fast...we would go on a couple of walks each day, play with toy after toy after toy (his attention span was very short), read a few stories, practice rolling over, etc. My days just seemed pretty boring. We still do all that stuff each day, but it helps so much that he plays more independently so I can work on some things that I want to do. Besides exercising and reading my scriptures, I like to try to fit in a little scrapbooking each day, piano playing, and I finally have learned how to crochet (I'm working on a burpy for my sister). My days feel a lot more productive when I can do some of the things I want to do. Here are a few pictures since my last post.

He's so peaceful when he's sleeping. If only he would do more of it at night! He is still waking up 2 to 3 times every night and can't comfort himself back to sleep. Usually it just takes someone holding his hand, and he'll fall back to sleep within 10 minutes, but sometimes it takes much longer! My mom says I value my sleep too much, so Caleb is just trying to remind me that I used to go on less sleep in high school (but that wasn't interrupted sleep!). He is eating oatmeal cereal very well (rice cereal...not so much), but even that hasn't helped his sleeping at night. I used to do all the getting up by myself at night since Matt had to go to work the next day, and I could try to squeeze in a nap. But it takes me SO long to get back to sleep after I wake up with Caleb at night whereas Matt hits the bed and he is OUT. It is very unfair, so now Matt helps during the night more :). We have made progress as far as Caleb being able to fall asleep by himself for naps now rather than us rocking him to sleep. That's helped a lot!

Caleb standing up by himself in his crib. He's still very wobbly.

Chillin' with Dad

Milestones

With a whole day of eating, sleeping, and playing ahead of us, Caleb and I work on rolling over, sitting up, and standing up a lot. So it's fun to watch them begin to do these things on their own. I believe that babies are supposed to do those things in that order (adding crawling before standing), but I guess Caleb doesn't know that! He can now sit up all by himself. I'm a proud mom!

This is a picture on January 7 (4 1/2 months) of Caleb sitting up by himself for the first time. This was the first time where I felt like he could sit up long enough for me to take a picture. You can tell that he's leaning way forward. As the days have progressed, he can now sit up straighter.

Caleb has also started grabbing his feet when laying down and trying to suck on them. (This comes in very handy when I'm changing his diaper and he holds his own feet.) It was hard to catch a good picture on camera because by the time the picture would take, he would flail his arms out at the last second as seen below.

Rolling over is still a work-in-progress. He can roll from his stomach to his back now, but it takes a lot of work on his part--more than he's usually willing to give.

Caleb's favorite game as of late is sitting on Mommy or Daddy's lap while one of us hands him a toy to play with. He'll show interest for a few seconds, then drop it on the floor just for us to pick up again. He'll do this over and over without tiring...Matt and I get tired first!

Another cute smile I just had to add.

(His hair is finally growing!)

Spit-up Happens

It was a blast having Lindsey and Clayton come home for Christmas. Lindsey seemed to have the magic touch with Caleb, and Caleb loved playing with her. Clayton, on the other hand, is a little more awkward with babies (see picture below). He gets especially grossed out when Caleb spits up milk. Needless to say, Clayton didn't hold Caleb very much (if at all!) while he was home. He seemed to always play with him at an arms-length distance. One time when Clayton was sitting with Caleb on the floor, Caleb spit-up a little on Clayton's pants. Clayton immediately held Caleb away from him and started yelling, "Clean me up, clean me up!" He'll find out one day in the future that spit-up just happens. It is not uncommon for me to go around with dirty shoulders all day long--hence the reason I've only been wearing t-shirts for the last 4 months of my life. Because, let's face it, you're not always quick enough with a burpy or rag. You do a lot more laundry when babies are around!

"Angry Boy"

My brother-in-law, Zane, has started a tradition of coming up with nicknames for his nieces and nephews. The first grandson of my parents he calls "Booger-head," and now Caleb has been dubbed, "Angry Boy." Caleb does great with Matt and I, but when we get together in large groups, Caleb is usually not a happy camper. He gets very angry if anyone else holds him and is notorious for crying A LOT when he is with a babysitter (which has just been family so far). Luckily Caleb is starting to do better around other people, but I thought I would add some of Caleb's angry faces which we don't always catch on camera. His smiles are so much cuter!

Bundled up to go on a walk

Food Time

Caleb and I went to the doctor a week ago for his 4-month check-up and next round of shots. He weighed 16 lbs. 6 oz. which put him in the 80th percentile for his weight. (At 2 months he weighed 13 lbs. 7 oz. and was in the 90th percentile.) Compared to any baby his age, I'm told Caleb is really big. He sure loves to eat! The doctor said we could start feeding Caleb some rice cereal. Yum! He took about 5 bites willingly, then he was through.

First bite

"You've got to be kidding me"